It also voted in favor of the bill that would reduce taxes, fees and mandates for farmers.

State Sen. Darrel Aubertine, D-Sackets Harbor, chair of the committee, said the votes show the committment to farmers throughout New York state.

“Today’s votes were in support of our agriculture industry, the farmers, the farm workers and the consumers who enjoy locally grown, high quality and fresh New York produce,” Aubertine said. “Our farms are a critical piece of our economy, our stability, our security and our future. Protecting the bottom line for our farms is the best way to ensure that we have a safe, stable food supply that is produced responsibly here in New York.”

The votes mean the Farmer Tax, Fee and Mandate Relief Act (S.6782) will now head to another committee. And the Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act (S.2247) is now dead.

Aubertine said if proponents of the farmworker bill try to bring it up again, he hopes they will work with the farm community to come up with a bill that helps farmworkers and farmers.

The Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act would have imposed new regulations and mandates on farms large and small, with or without full-time employees, as well as add new costs such as additional overtime expenses. Many farmers opposed the bill because it would make it too difficult to get the workers they need to harvest their crops and if they could get workers, it would cost too much to employ them.

The bill has been hotly debated for months. The bill was voted down 6-1 with two votes to move the bill to another committee without recommendation.

"Albany made the right decision today for the future of farming and the Upstate rural economy," said Dean Norton, president of New York Farm Bureau. "Had this bill gone through, it would have seriously damaged the ability of our local farms to produce local food for local people."

March 1, dozens of farmers testified at a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, urging legislators to defeat the farmworker labor bill. Following the hearing, farmers hosted a rally on the Capitol steps. The theme of the rally was "Don't plow us under!"

The Farmer Tax, Fee and Mandate Relief Act, sponsored by Aubertine, will alleviate some of the costs and regulations that limit profitability and burden farmers. This bill will help farmers ensure their land is recognized as part of an agricultural district, obtain tax credits for farm investments, exempt farm wineries from sales tax reporting requirements, ease corporation filing fees for farmers, ease payroll tax and vehicle supplemental registration fees within the Metropolitan Transit Authority service region, and reduce permit fees with the Department of Environmental Conservation.

UPDATE: The Rural and Migrant Ministry issued a statement about the farmworker bill Tuesday afternoon:

Today’s vote in the Senate Agriculture Committee, taken at the behest of the New York Farm Bureau and with the blessing of the Senate leadership, is the committee’s latest in a series of cynical actions that contorted Senate rules to keep the rest of the chamber from voting on basic rights for New York farmworkers.

The Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act — which was substantially amended in January to address concerns raised by Sen. Aubertine and the industry lobby — would extend basic protections such as the right to organize, to a day of unpaid rest, and to overtime pay after 55 hours in a week. Throughout 2010, the bill has been the victim of procedural maneuvering, courtesy of the Ag Committee Chair, Sen. Aubertine.

In January, the Senate leadership approved Sen. Aubertine’s request to have the bill secondarily referenced to the Committee — over the objections of the bill’s sponsors and despite the fact that, by the Senate’s own rules, the Ag Committee holds no subject matter jurisdiction over the bill’s provisions. The Ag Committee then held on to the bill as long as they possibly could — almost 90 days.